Why Don’t Homeless People Just Get a Job?

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Let's start with a hypothetical:

"What's the first thing you would do if you became homeless?" asked LA reporter Jeff Jacobs to Stacy Bennum, a, recent college grad from UCLA. After puzzling the question for a moment, Stacy replied, "I think I would get a job. That way I could get out of my situation as soon as possible."

That's what most people think they'd do. But they don't know what it's like to be homeless. I do. I was homeless myself. Most of the world just doesn't understand who, the situation of homelessness makes a person become.

To answer why homeless people don't get jobs, we need to know what homelessness is like and who homeless people are. Let us first start with the latter.

The homeless are people who feel forgotten and uncared for, left by family and society to freeze in the cold. Sure, if they would just go out and get a job, they could end their suffering in a month. But why they don't make sense once you understand their situation.

While many reasons exist for why the homeless don't work, and the specific reasons for why any given homeless person does not varies, in general, homeless people do not get jobs because they

1. experience learned helplessness,
2. don't want a job,
3. have disabilities preventing them from working,
4. lack a safe place to leave possessions,
5. have difficulties getting hired,
6. and have trouble keeping a job.

I know that just sounds like a bunch of excuses, but give me a chance to explain.

1) THE HOMELESS DON'T JUST GET JOBS BECAUSE THEY EXPERIENCE LEARNED HELPLESSNESS

Many homeless people have what psychologists call "learned helplessness." They've lost all hope of exiting homelessness. The reason is, that when you are homeless, anything that you try to do to improve your situation fails. Everything requires money.

If you need to go to the library to fill out applications, for example, you can't. You have no money for the bus. If you need to go to an interview: the same story. Plus, you have no way to look presentable. You have no way to shower and shave because you have no way to pay the rent.

Stop and think about that for a moment.

If you're homeless, where will you shower to look presentable for your interview? Where will you get deodorant if you have no money to buy it? How will you impress employers when the only clothes you own are filthy? How are you to use the laundromat when you have no money?

When you are homeless, you learn to feel that you are helpless to improve your situation. And you truly are helpless. You lack a single dollar to do almost anything that would improve your situation.

2) THE HOMELESS DON'T WORK BECAUSE THEY DON'T WANT TO

In addition to learned helplessness, many homeless people don't get jobs because they don't want one. (Very few people choose homelessness, but some do.) For those that do, working to only be broke at the end of the month is reason enough. We have all felt this way at least once.

Work barely pays the bills. Even if you work 40 hours and put in overtime each week, you can never seem to get ahead. Never is there enough money at the end of the month left over for oneself. Why work then?

Some homeless people decide that the cost of working only to be broke is too expensive for a home. They would rather instead adapt to a life of homelessness.

3) PEOPLE ON THE STREETS CANT GET JOBS BECAUSE OF DISABILITIES

Homeless people also can't get jobs due to disabilities. Disabilities can come in two forms: physical and mental.

physical

Then, of course, physical disabilities prevent homeless people from getting a job. Some have a bad back or a hip that keeps them from earning an income.

mental

Next, the homeless don't just go get a job because many of them have mental disabilities. Veterans, for example, who make up about one-fifth of all males on the streets, suffer from high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.

Half of all homeless people (vets or not) have substance abuse disorders. In addition, many suffer from schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, depression, and other mental illnesses that prevent them from getting and keeping a job.

4) IT IS HARD FOR THE HOMELESS TO GET A JOB BECAUSE THEY LACK A SAFE PLACE TO LEAVE THEIR BELONGINGS

But even supposing that a homeless person is willing to work and has no significant mental or physical disabilities preventing him or her, a person may also lack a safe place to leave their belongings. This makes it hard to get a job because going anywhere is difficult. One needs to go somewhere to seek and maintain employment.

Consider this for a moment.

Think about all the possessions you have. If you lost your home today, where would you put all your stuff? Maybe you specifically would leave it with friends or family. The homeless, though, often lack friends or family. That's why they're in their situation in the first place.

So when you become homeless, you must get rid of almost everything you own. You have to. You can't carry it all around with you. Laws exist against having more than a certain amount of belongings on a person in public! And you can't leave your belongings in the shelter. Shelters usually do not allow that.

What little belongings you keep are necessities: food, blankets, hygiene products, etc. You cannot afford to lose these for any reason. But you have no safe place to store them.

How, then, do you go into a coffee shop, for example, and use their Wi-Fi to fill out applications? How do you go in for a job interview? Even if you are willing to break the law and stash your blankets in a bush to go to talk to employers, you still have to fear that your necessities will be stolen while you do.

That can be reason enough not to work. If something happens to your blankets, for example, you will freeze at night. It gets really cold. If someone steals your deodorant or shampoo, how in the world are you to maintain proper hygiene for work?

Thus, lacking a safe place to leave belongings is one reason the homeless don't get jobs.

5) HOMELESS PEOPLE DON'T GET JOBS BECAUSE THEY DON'T GET HIRED

But assume that you are willing to take the chance of getting your stuff stolen or tossed in the trash, and you are willing to break the law by leaving your belongings somewhere hidden in public, you still have difficulties attaining employment. Homeless people don't get jobs because they have trouble getting hired. It all starts with the job application.

The job application

bad job history

First, to turn in a good application, you need good job history. Physical or mental disabilities often prevent the homeless from maintaining jobs for long periods, though. When one's job history is 10 jobs in the last 5 years, businesses aren't likely to hire them. Employers are looking for individuals who can show that they can maintain employment for a while. This way employers don't lose money to needless turnovers.

no skills

Second, many homeless people lack marketable skills. They'd probably already have a good job if they didn't. This is often due to little education. A significant proportion of homeless individuals have no high school diploma or GED.

little references

Third, many lack good references. This includes good references from past employers. Employers are usually looking for at least three. But the homeless are often people who live in social isolation.

no address

Fourth, they lack an address to put on the application. Leaving a blank spot or an NA on the part of your job application that says "address" tells the employer that you are homeless. Employers are often reluctant to hire homeless individuals because they worry that the person will not be able to maintain proper hygiene.

no reliable transportation

So the homeless often have to fake their address. The reason why an employer wants to know your address is they want to make sure that you live near the business. That way they know that you'll be able to make it to work each day.

The employer, then, is going to look at your address and see if it's near the location that you're applying for. Giving the employer your past address that is 50 miles away, for example, will not do. That will come up in a job interview. Telling the employer that you are homeless is also not a sure way to get you hired.

no phone

Finally, even if you somehow manage to fill out a job application that pleases a hiring manager, you still often lack a phone number that the employer can reach you on. How is he or she to request you to come in for a job interview?

Filling out an application and then telling the employer that you don't have a phone number so you'll just show up every day and ask how the application process is going will not create a good first impression. But if you decide to do that, you better be well showered and shaved. That can be an issue when you are homeless. So lacking the ability to create a good job application and be contacted about it is one reason why it is hard for the homeless to get jobs.

The interview

Let's assume that you fill out a good application, you leave a good phone number that the employer can reach you at, and they call you in for an interview. The first problem you encounter when you are homeless is how in the world are you going to present yourself as employable?

no place to shower and shave

First of all, you lack a place to shower and shave. You can use a public park bathroom, but shaving in a park bathroom is against the rules. Park staff do enforce these rules. ask any homeless person if they've ever been kicked out of a park and chances are they will say yes.

seen homeless

But even setting aside the problem of having nowhere to groom, when you're homeless, you have nowhere to hide. You're outdoors all the time. You are seen by many people in the area in which you're applying for employment. The manager may recognize you as one of the local homeless and immediately disqualify you on that basis.

bad hair

If you are not recognized, then you need only to show up to the interview looking presentable. First of all, you'll need to wash your hair and get a haircut. Your hair gets caked with dirt and begins knotting up into dreadlocks. It clumps and sticks together due to not showering and shampooing it. So you'll need to wash your hair and get a nice haircut. Any idea how to do that while homeless?

bad social skills

Next, during the interview, you need to sell yourself as someone who would be valuable to the company. But homeless individuals usually lack social skills. One of the reasons why they're homeless often is because they lack a good social support network to help them out of their situation. This means they do not have many opportunities to socialize and interact with people. Presenting themselves as friendly and socially savvy, to a manager, then, can be challenging. Sometimes it can be impossible. Homeless people lack social skills due to the isolation that results from homelessness.

no money for uniform

Finally, assume that you filled out a good application, you had a number that the employer contacted you on, you were able to shower and shave, and you had the skills the employer was looking for - the education, the references, the physical address, and the job history - and you knew how to fill out the job application the way the employers are screening for.

You cannot still answer yes to the final question of the interview. The employer will say, "our company requires that you wear black slacks and black no-slip shoes. Is that going to be a problem for you?" If you say yes, you're shown the door. If you say no, you are lying. You are lying because you are homeless. You have no money for black pants and black shoes.

6) THE HOMELESS HAVE TROUBLE MAINTAINING EMPLOYMENT

bad hygiene

Let's say you get hired. You start working. From work, you get all sweaty and smelly. Where are you going to wash yourself and your clothes? If you can't maintain proper hygiene and keep a clean uniform you're fired.

no bus money

Then there's the problem with getting to work with no bus money. Usually, the job that you take is not right down the street from where you sleep outside. Oftentimes, you take whatever job you can get because you are desperate. So if the job you take is 10 miles away, how are you getting to work each day?

in jail

Finally, there's one more obstacle to keeping a job when you were homeless. And that is showing up for work if you're in jail. When you're homeless, it is easy to get ticketed for loitering, trespassing, or illegal camping. And while those are only minor infractions that only result in a ticket, when you're on the streets, you get ticketed a lot. Those tickets start piling up. You can't pay them because you have no money. Then, you get a warrant out for your arrest.

One time is all it takes for the police to stop you for something stupid like sitting in front of a store (loitering) to be thrown in jail. Try getting your job back after a week of no-call no-show due to imprisonment. It's not going to happen.

Final Thoughts

So the reasons that homeless people don't just get a job are many.

First, many suffer from learned helplessness that results from always being broke. Some homeless people simply don't want a job. They are not willing to pay the price of work for a place to live. Other homeless people don't get jobs because they have mental or physical disabilities. These prevent them from working.

Next, they don't work because they lack a safe place to leave their belongings. They can't just stash their stuff in a bush and hope that their blankets will be safe when they return. What they have left are their bare necessities. It gets really cold and night and blankets are extremely valuable when you are homeless.

In addition, getting a job requires one has desirable details to put on a job application. It also requires a phone number to be reached at. Many homeless individuals lack marketable skills and a phone.

Also, the homeless don't just get a job because doing so requires that they hold a good interview. The homeless lack a way to present themselves as hirable.

Finally, it's hard to keep a job. They can't possibly shave and shower each day with no place to do so at. How will they buy deodorant? They can't even take the bus without money.

That's why the homeless don't get jobs. They don't, because they can't.

conclusion

Studies show that over half of the homeless have had a job in the last 4 years. So many of the homeless may even be employed. So the next time you see a homeless person and you think to yourself, "why don't they just get a job like the rest of us?" think they can't or they already work.